2014. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Our position didn’t prevail in every state, but the cause of tax justice and fairness for working families made significant gains in a number of places. Below, the best and worst tax policies of the past year:

The Best

Washington, DC takes the number one spot for enacting a progressive tax reform package this past summer. Unlike other jurisdictions that have used the guise of “reform” to cut taxes for the wealthy, the D.C. City Council cut the personal income tax rate for middle-class residents and expanded a number of provisions to assist working families, including the property tax circuit breaker and standard deduction. The council also expanded the city’s EITC for childless workers, one of the most effective strategies for lifting workers out of poverty and a longtime ITEP recommendation. The city partially paid for these reforms by broadening the sales tax base to include more services, limiting personal exemptions for better-off citizens, and making permanent its 8.95 percent income tax bracket on high-income earners. Many additional changes are tied to revenue triggers, ensuring that the reform measures won’t wreck the city’s finances.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee made sustainability and fairness the centerpiece of his 2015 budget proposal, announced this month. The proposal protects education spending and important services through a 7 percent capital gains tax on capital gains earnings above $25,000 per individual and $50,000 per couple. The governor also pledged to fund the state’s working families tax credit (the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit) through his proposed tax on carbon polluters, benefiting 450,000 Washington families. The proposal is the boldest by a Washington governor in some time.

Lawmakers in Minnesotaand Maryland invested in provisions to give working families a lifeline. Minnesota expanded the property tax credit for homeowners and renters and increased the working family credit (the state’s EITC) and the dependent care credit. Maryland legislators expanded the refundable portion of the EITC, from 25 percent to 28 percent.

Alaska officials saw the light and decided to let their film tax credit expire five years early. The film tax credit has been notoriously ineffective in a number of states.

Lawmakers in Wisconsin doubled down on their tax-cut fervor, reducing the bottom personal income tax rate from 4.4 percent to 4 percent and enacting another round of state-funded property tax cuts.

Voters in Tennessee permanently banned the state from enacting a broad-based personal income tax through a ballot measure that amends the state constitution, essentially tying the hands of future lawmakers and ensuring that the state’s tax system will remain among the most regressive in the nation. Georgia voters approved an amendment to cap the state’s top personal income tax rate where it stands as of Jan. 1, 2015, which could lead to financial problems down the road and will prevent future Georgians from making needed investments.

Lawmakers in Missouriand Oklahoma enacted personal income tax cuts dependent on the state hitting revenue targets. Oklahoma’s top personal income tax rate would drop from 5.25 to 4.85 percent while Missouri’s top income tax rate would drop from 6 to 5.5 percent; in Missouri, a new 25 percent exemption on pass-thru business income would be implemented.

Lawmakers in a number of jurisdictions – Washington, DC, Rhode Island, Maryland, Minnesota, and New York – increased the estate tax threshold, essentially giving the wealthiest residents in those states a huge, unnecessary tax break.

Florida lawmakers passed a hodgepodge of gimmicky sales tax holidays and exemptions for car seats, cement mixers, helmets, electricity bills, college meal plans and a host of legislator’s pet causes. The legislature also reduced the business franchise tax and cut motor vehicle fees, for a total of $500 million in lost revenue.

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